More than a week has passed since the day I got there, and we were once again on the battlefield. Not far from us scorpion golems continued bombarding the enemy with large fireballs and sounds of screams and explosions reached us from ahead.

"I hate rain." I frowned while looking at the sky. 

For a few hours, it was raining now, and dark clouds covered the sky as far I could see. As for me... I was safely floating inside my phantom beast at its core, and not a single drop could reach me.

Maybe it's a bit wasteful to use phantom beast as shelter from the rain, but we are in the middle of battle, one never knows when some stray spell might hit you. Ok, I admit, I just don't like getting wet... at least as long as it has nothing to do with Phoenix and a warm bed. Mmm... I really have to get back. I will go mad if have to wait for a year!

"But why? It's such fine weather," asked Sei. His head was directed to the sky, and eyes closed to enjoy the feeling.

"What can be better than a pleasant sensation of water running down your body, washing away all..." he suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence.

The water on his body started to freeze turning him into an ice statue.

"What is the meaning of this, Sis?" he stretched his wings and all the ice crumbled from his body.

"Oh, I don't know... Brother. Maybe I just don't like when someone is in a good mood while I am not..." I said with a grin.

Sei might be immune to the cold, but teasing him like this was fun. Despite his monster-like appearance, I started to like him. And it has nothing to do with him calling me Sister.

Brother... I never had one, if we don't count memories of my previous lives that is. Without me even noticing I started to consider him as one as well. Though when I use the word aloud, I still pretended it's a sarcasm.

"Dammit!" I cursed when I looked behind. A large ball of energy was almost finished there and could be launched any moment now.

There wasn't supposed to be any mages there...

I quickly looked at my new bracelet and mana screen materialized slightly above it... blue dots indicated the location of possible mages... there was over hundred of them at the place the spell was forming.

How have they got there? Teleportation? No. I would have felt it. And it seems the number of troops is still the same. Disguise? Some enchantments that can conceal them as mages?

This explains a lot. I was wondering why they used almost half of their forces to attack from behind. Without the support of mages, warriors would be harmless against golems.

Hmm, this means that the scanner needs some adjustments. I guess I expected too much from a prototype, it's harder than I thought to combine enchantments with a computer.

Still, if this spell hits, I highly doubt that even half of the golems will survive, the spell they created was at least twice as big compared to the spell I saw on the first day there.

A single Eli female can lay up to twenty eggs, but even with this, not all of them become mages when hatch. Those that do, however... as sisters and brothers have high affinity with each other and it's not surprising when many of them are capable of fusion spells.

"Why you didn't warn me?!" I looked at Sei angrily.

There was no surprise on his face, no way he didn't know about it.

"But Sis, you have to learn to detect danger on your own. I won't always be by your side."

"Uhh." I grunted and then looked at golems. "Group Rei, charge the mages south-east! Dao, half of you will attack them until they are there, the rest, continue bombarding mages at the north. Zet, Dera, spread out and engage the rest!" I quickly commanded.

Group Rei consisted mostly of tempest golems. They were fast and very useful in situations where the speed was of the essence. Most of them looked like crabs or spiders.

Then we have scorpions, golems capable of long-range attacks, the majority of group Dao. They really look like scorpions, though instead of pincers, have a bit more massive legs there. Before attacking, they stab all their limbs to the ground, stabilizing their position and aim, then use their 'tail' to launch large fireballs, which detonate with powerful explosions upon contact.

If needed, they can attack and at melee, but changing the mode of their attack waste too much time, it's easier to just assign other golems to protect them while they are busy.

Hammer, the majority of group Dera, were largest, heaviest and also slowest golems in the group. Most of them were ten meters tall, and two of them, nearly twenty. They have the appearance of a headless elephant, with six oversized 'hands' at the top of their body. The way those hands stick out, reminds of spider legs, only way thicker. Those hands alone probably weigh seventy percent of their body.

Once they reach their destination and start swinging those hands, usually only liquid goo is left from the enemy.

Battle golems, the majority of groups Zet and Sola, were neither slow nor fast, and specialized only in melee fights. All of them, without exception, were humanoids, with three arms. The most massive arm is used to create a large shield from the ground, the other two create blades from mana.

Just as I finished ordering golems, I used teleportation and appeared right in the path of the ball. I started to burn my reserves of mana and managed to increase the size of my phantom beast to twenty meters. I extended my claws and caught the ball with my both hands.

Space distorted at the touch and the spell was suddenly gone.

This was the third time I used 'spell steal'. For it to work, I have to 'touch' at least one-third of spell surface. It would be completely useless against something like wildfire.

Just as before, my pocket dimension was strongly affected when I did this and I no longer had access to it. By now, my pocket dimension was an inseparable part of me and losing access to it felt terrible, it was as if my arms were suddenly tied.

If it's the same as the last time, I will need at least a day for it to stabilize. This means I can forget about storing mana, or retrieving anything from inside for today. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect that the same might happen if I used any spell I stored inside. I hope this will change with the higher level of the skill.

With the threat gone, I restored my phantom beast to its optimal size and then looked at the army of Eli. I was angry. I was already pissed we have to fight in a rain, but now... with my hand forced to use 'spell steal', this has turned into one more day without any progress at collecting mana.

To restore mana I just wasted, I started to use heat absorption and devour soul. There might be a limit of how much mana is near our bodies, but as long as things aren't made of ice, warmth can be extracted and turned into mana as well.

Frustration from my predicament, the anxiety of not knowing if my friends and Phoenix are alright, if they didn't do something stupid, one setback after another in my plans to escape... a terrible weather. Little by little everything was steadily piling up, and finally, I have reached my limits, boiling rage filled my heart.

There was a need to went it on someone and it just happened there was an enemy right in front of me.

In a radius of dozen meters, ice started spreading under my feet, rain turned into a hail, and even moisture in the air into a snow. No, I was wrong. As long as absolute zero isn't reached, I can extract warmth even from ice!

Heat Absorption reached level 8.

Cold Resistance reached level 4.

I lowered posture of my phantom beast and stabbed claws into the ground, ice shattered from the hit and cracks spread far and wide. A few crab golems rushed past me from both sides. Group Rei I ordered has already reached me. Runes flared up on their bodies, protecting them from my freezing effect.

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What if instead of getting there myself I ordered one of them to intercept the spell with its body...

"Aaaah!!" I released all my frustration with a scream and charged forward.

A moment later, I noticed the first hindrance in my path.

Quicksand!

Normally, this would be a very effective spell against an army, but... golems were only slightly slowed down by this. As golems, each of them knew earth manipulation to some degree, and it prevented them from sinking. As for me...

With my every step, ice was turning the liquefied ground into little icebergs, allowing me to pass through with ease.

A swarm of spells was constantly launched at us, many of them landed on charging golems, some were aimed at me. I ran forward without stopping, phantom claws of my right hand pointed in front of me. 

Devour soul reached level 7.

Heat Absorption reached level 9.

Cold Resistance reached level 5.

 Most of the spells dissipated into raw mana the moment they touched my claws, some even before that. Only ice magic was a bit bothersome. There was no lack of water in this rain, and ice doesn't vanish just because there is no longer mana inside it. My heat absorption only made matters worst. 

But it wasn't that hard to block or avoid it. If I was alone, would have even more room to do so and it would be easier, but in that case, every single attack would be aimed at me. There is a limit how much one can dodge.

Especially with the size of my phantom beast. As a phantom beast, I was taller than most of those beetle-like creatures, though not by much.

After a bit, I finally reached my first opponent. 

With a sweep of my claws, I quickly blocked a spear aimed at me and it shattered from the impact. I punched him with another hand and cracks covered his body. One more hit with the leg and his body shattered like a glass.

I then quickly leaned to the side and large sword struck the place I was just a moment ago. Just as I was about to retaliate, a shadow passed in my vision, and massive pincer sent my assailant flying. It was done by a golem passing through. Eli warrior flew a dozen meters from the hit and the moment his body landed, was trampled to death by golems that followed.

Yes, there is no such thing as one on one battle in a war.

Screams echoed all around me as more of golems joined the battle. Even with numbers on their side, Eli warriors were easily crushed by them.

As I faced another beetle, he quickly raised his sword to block swing of my tail. But it passed through the weapon without any harm. It was just an illusion. My real tail hit him in the torso and sent him flying. When another golem collided with him, his body cracked and split in four, an evidence just how quickly my touch can freeze. 

I was still quite clumsy when it comes to utilizing my new martial arts as phantom beast, but just a few days ago I couldn't do even that. After all, phantom beast isn't my real body. 

I managed to kill a dozen more, when I noticed that now most of ice type attacks and magic were aimed at me. Don't they fear to hit their own? I guess with my appearance different from the golems, they thought I am a leader... which was quite accurate. Though golems would continue their command even if I was killed.

'This is a bit problematic' I thought when a few pillars of ice managed to hit me. My phantom beast withstood the attack just fine, but this was slowing me down. With golems rushing behind me, I couldn't afford this. I shattered many similar attacks and even more were dodged, but there's only so much I can do without colliding with golems. It's a bit sad they noticed ice magic is most effective against me.

I guess I will have to use 'that'.

A green tattoo started to glow on my skin as I started activating my new spell.

"Hellfire Armor!"

My phantom beast suddenly burst with flames melting anything that came into contact with it. This was my latest invention to enhance phantom beast. A fruit of experiments with skills like 'lightning armor' and fire magic.

A plasma of nearly ten thousand degrees by Kelvin wasn't even a limit, but my heat resistance could barely protect me even from this. This is why I couldn't stop from using heat absorption, and everything a few meters away from my burning phantom beast was still freezing.

Two opposing forces of heat and cold collided and slowly a small tornado started to take shape around me. The wind only increased the effect, flames became hotter while surroundings colder. And this in return increased the power of the wind even further.

Heat Resistance has reached level 9.

Enhanced Spell reached level 2.

Wind Manipulation has been acquired.

At first, I was surprised, it's not the first time I used those two together, but there was never such strong effect. When the heat surpassed what I can tolerate, I wanted to stop. But with a timely rise of heat resistance, I changed my mind. Instead, I started to increase the power with wind manipulation even further, and soon many beetles around me started flying.

While mana cost was very high, I didn't stop. This was... very intoxicating. I never felt so alive. I was the storm itself!

Everything has changed when the tornado grew so large that the tip of it has reached the clouds. The tornado started to grow wider and stronger, and soon I realized that it does so without my assistance.

Even more of Eli warriors were picked by the wind, their mages started activating their barriers. But that didn't save them and they were uprooted together with it. Even heaviest golems were lifted from the ground as if they were made of straws.

This is... bad!

I quickly put all my efforts to stop it, but nothing worked. This was no longer a fruit of magic, but a true tornado in all its horror. After a minute of struggle...

"Kyaaaa!!"

...I was swept into the air as well. Even with wind manipulation, I was powerless to keep myself on the ground.

Stop it? What a joke!

After spinning in the air and colliding with something a few times, I quickly teleported a safe distance away... or at least that was my aim. I have underestimated the size and speed it has reached. After a few more teleportations I was finally safe on the ground and looked at the monster I have unleashed.

The tornado was now a few kilometers wide and was still growing. Remaining troops of the enemy and golems were swallowed shortly as well. They had no chance to escape 'this'.

"This wasn't supposed to happen..." I whispered while looking at many small dots circling high in the air.

*crack*

I immediately stopped my movement and looked at my clothes. Many cracks spread over their surface. 

It seems that at some point, I released my form of phantom beast, and clothes got wet as result. And following that, my own heat absorption froze them in an instant. After all, at the time I made them from my hair, my cold resistance was still zero. Now that I no longer have access to my pocket dimension... I was in a pinch.

Staying still like a statue, so my clothes do not break apart, I started to grow my hair and weave them into new clothes. Since now I had to use nutrients from my own body, I was becoming slimmer as result. Nothing a few good meals will not fix.

"How do you like my little revenge?" I heard Sei from my right, his gaze focused on the tornado.

I wasn't surprised to see him unscratched. Save for those destroyer class golems, I think there is no one stronger than him in this world... or faster. If wanted he could literally outrun a bullet.

Wait. Revenge?

"It was you who was behind this?!" I shouted at him.

Slight movement I made was all that was needed and my frozen clothes started to crumble into pieces. I quickly activated my limit break and with all speed I could muster, put on clothes I just made.

Phew. That was... close.

Sei probably wouldn't even care if saw me naked, and I don't mean just because of our difference in race. Besides that armor on his chest, he doesn't wear any clothes. Maybe people of his race care little for things like clothes, not that surprising considering how his snake-like body has nothing indicating gender just with outside appearance, but that doesn't mean I am the same...

Now that I think about it, I never managed to create winds with such force, and definitely not to the point it turns into a real tornado. It might have been different if I had the boost of a dungeon, but...

"Me? No, no. I helped just a little..." he waved his arms in denial, "Fine, maybe it was a bit more than little, but with a bit more precision and mana you could have completed the task on your own. While this might be impossible to replicate without right weather conditions, you should still try to learn how to do that. Everyone can squander mana for some meager results, but it's an art letting nature do your work with just a tiny fraction of your power." 

"And what about our golems? There is almost nothing left. You said yourself that Dahaal will send me to Razel if I lose more than half of them in a month." I asked while looking at the tornado.

This was the main reason I put so much effort during the battle. According to Sei, she was a monster and my predecessor didn't last a week of her 'training'. Sei himself barely survived, and at that time she was much weaker. 

Here and there I saw a few of golems and Eli tossed away by the tornado. They were so high in the air that it will take quite some time before they reach the ground.

"Oh, don't you worry about them, they are golems. It's just a few kilometers fall, they should be fine." he waved his hand while looking up. "Hmm. Finding them all might take a while though." he quickly added.

As he said so, I noticed that tornado was growing a bit distant, and with it, most of the golems it was carrying. And since there was no sign of it getting weaker...

Yes, it seems this world will soon have a few storm chasers.